European Summit

How should EU money be distributed? Send us your views

At the EU summit in Brussels today our leaders will try to get an agreement for the budget. Many want Britain to give up the annual rebate. But Tony Blair says only if France accepts a cut in its agriculture subsidies. So whose sums add up?

We sent Declan Curry to Union Road ...in Solihull to find out how the sums stack up. And in inimitable Declan style he set about explaining EU finance with a pan of sausages!

Declan also canvassed opinion in Solihull about our EU contributions.

He spoke to two businessmen who both support the Union, one of whom had got a grant from the EU.

But David Stephens from Solihull Chamber of Commerce said that he would like to see EU money spread more evenly.

In 2003, Britain paid around £8.5bn to Europe. At the same time, the EU paid back about £4bn to Britain, not in a rebate but in subsidies to our farmers and to other sectors of the UK economy.

And, Britain also gets a rebate worth £3bn. If we didn't get that, Britain would be the biggest net contributor to the EU budget.

Tony Blair has said that he's willing to look at the rebate, But only if the EUE is willing to look at the Common Agriculture Policy, under which farmers across Europe receive significant subsidies.

Because France has so many small farmers, it receives the largest subsidy back from the Common Agricultural Policy.

We sent Breakfast reporter Mike Sergeant to the town of Cholet in Brittainy, to get the French perspective on the EU budget.